Jake Hammond

Age 17
Sport Played Athletics - Track
Years Played 11 years

Tell us about yourself

I am currently competing at club,state and national leves in athletics for the 100 and 200m events.I train 5 days per week after school and on weekends. Athletics has been a major apart of my life for many years i started with a bunch of mates and over the years it has become my life. Competing is the best part of the sport, i think why train if you are not giong to get the pleasure of competing which i do on any occasion i can, normally saturday afternoon competitions. I love training as well as i have a great group and coach, where we work of each others strengths. It feels more like a team sport.

Proudest Sporting Achievements

Becoming the U18s Australian Schools Champion in the 100m and 200m with a new AUS record in the 100m. My other proud achievements would be being ranked number 1 in the 100m,200m and 400m for Australia for U18s and being ranked 17th internationally for the 200m for my age group. One of the proudest moments is when you know you have trained so hard for something and then you achieve it.

What are you hoping to achieve

Currently I'm training for NSW under20 Championships where i would like to run new personal bests. The long term goal that i am training towards is qualifying and competing in the World Junior Championships for Australia mid next year in Canada.

How does LineBreak help

Recovery is an important factor to be able to perform at my best. LineBreak compression garments help with achieving this needed recovery. I have used other compression garments but after competing at an "A" race in Hobart where I used LineBreak long tights I've realised the high quality of the garment.

My Blog

9/11/09
I competed in NSW All Schools Championships over the weekend with great results.
Won the 100m in a time of 10.61s and the 200m in 21.07s.  Both of these times are World Junior qualifiers for Canada, July 2010.

1/10/09
I thought you may like a little light reading.  This was on the NSW Athletics website:

Rising stars: Jake Hammond
Competing at the Combined High Schools athletics carnival, Illawong athlete, Jake Hammond ran a superb 21.15 in the 200m. Although only 17 years, Hammond broke the CHS record of 21.25 held by Atlanta Olympian Paul Greene. Coached by Michael Dooley, he also ran the 10th fastest time by an open Australian this year and easily achieved the qualifying time for the 2010 World Junior championships.
 
QUESTION: Over the last 12 months we had heard how well you had been training, but did you expect the recent breakthrough 200m time?
No I didn’t expect to run that time at all well not this early on in the season, but I do remember warming up for the final thinking `Gee, I’m feeling all right’ and I said to Michael `This could be fast,’ thinking maybe 21.35 and he just said `Stay relaxed and just run’ .But there was no way I was thinking 21.15. It was really unexpected. I guess it came because I've had my best winter season with little to no interruptions.
 
Q. You have improved in the last few years. What has made the difference ?
I think my coach and my attitude are the reasons I've improved. When I was 14 I didn’t take athletics seriously but my coach got in my ear about my attitude and since then I've changed how I think about training and competing and now I’m a lot more committed towards athletics.
 
Q. We nearly lost you to rugby league a few years ago.  Which team? Why did you consider League. Why did you move back to T&F?
In the U15s for Little As I ran a 10.9 hand held with a huge tailwind at regional. That year was my second season playing rugby league and about a month later the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks approached my dad asking if I was keen to be in a development squad. I went down once or twice but it wasn't really my thing. I was never going to leave track and field. It was always what I wanted to do as a young kid so the thought never really crossed my mind. Plus I was too small to play league.
 
Q. What are the aspects of track and field you enjoy? What do you find tough?
I really enjoy most things about track and field. I love rocking up to training and at comps I really enjoy seeing everyone I've met through the sport. The hardest thing for me is the cold late night training in winter. It’s 100 times harder to stay determined and the long off season with no comps make it hard.
 
Q. Are your coach and squad the key to your enjoyment and success?
Absolutely, along with my family who drive me everywhere and go everywhere to watch me run week in week out. Having such a good coach and squad makes it so much easier to show up and put in the effort. Our squad Team Dooley is like a team and no one wants to let each other down at the track. We all feed off each other’s results. At regional I remember a lot of the younger kids were running PBs and a few were giving me a bit of flack because I wasn't. It’s that team environment that is a key to our success .
 
Copyright: David Tarbotton and Ron Bendall for Athletics NSW.